Stuart Broad defends decision not to walk in England Ashes series against Australia

England's Stuart Broad has defended his decision not to walk in the most controversial incident of the first Ashes series this year, suggesting the huge row blew up because Australia had "wasted" their two referrals.

I could name you 18 or 19 players who played in an Ashes series who nicked it and didn't walk.

Stuart Broad

In the first Test at Trent Bridge, the fast bowler edged a ball from spinner Ashton Agar to Michael Clarke at first slip but did not walk after umpire Aleem Dar gave him not out.

Australia had already used up all its reviews during England's second innings so was unable to challenge the decision. Broad later admitted hitting the ball.

"My first comment on that whole incident is I could name you 18 or 19 players who played in an Ashes series who nicked it and didn't walk," Broad told the BBC in an interview.

"We could be here all day if I named players from the past. I am trying to think of someone in the modern game who is consistently a walker."

Broad rode his luck to make 65 and added 138 runs in a seventh-wicket stand with Ian Bell, which proved crucial for the hosts as they went on the win the Nottingham test by 14 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

Captain Clarke and his team-mates were left shaking their heads in disbelief at the decision which sparked a huge debate on Twitter about the spirit of cricket.

"It's a really interesting debate and something that got blown so out of proportion maybe because the Australians were frustrated they had wasted two referrals," Broad said.

"It was an important moment in the game because, let's be honest, if Belly and I hadn't put on those runs, we wouldn't have won the Test match so we would only have won 3-1 or something."